September 8/03 8:38 am - NAS Track Season Final

Posted by Editoress on 09/8/03

NAS-Track Season Final Rochester Hills, Michigan

The NAS-TRACK Madison Racing League's 2003 season came to a superb conclusion at the finale SOUPerBowl, with nine teams competing in one of the most intense races of the summer season. Race action took place Friday, Sept. 5 at the Velodrome at Bloomer Park in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Winner of the evening was NAS-TRACK newcomer Guillame Nelessen, a professional racer based at the Trexlertown, PA velodrome and his partner, the youngest racer on the track 18-year-old Christopher Hughes of Rochester Hills. The team, lead by an aggressive Nelessen, lapped the six teams to collect enough points to win nights' racing and the SOUPerBOWL title.

Also at stake were the last points in the League's 2003 overall standings. Dave Koesel, who led that competition going into the race, held onto it finishing the season with 318 points, ahead of Andre Champoux in second with 297 and Jon Hughes in third with 296.

As the final race of the summer season, The SOUPerBOWL Teams were determined based on points and the luck of the draw. The top racers in points drew names from the second tier of racers. Racers did not know who their partner would be until five minutes before the racing began.

"It's a testimony to the skill of these racers and their great athletic ability that this race was not only fast and hard but safe and pretty much flawless," said NAS-TRACK Chairman and Race Director Dale Hughes . "They've been riding great all season but this night, they really proved themselves."

*Nelessen definitely increased the fervor of the racing. A virtual unknown going into his first race, he quickly proved his mettle by winning the Miss & Out. Minutes later, in the Madison he and Hughes picked up points in every sprint and earned a whopping 12 points for lapping 6 other teams. One of the only teams they didn't lap was that of Tony Bruley and Pio Apostoli, who came in a close second with 40 points - only 2 points behind. Third was Team Red's Rick Denman of California and Cullen Watkins of Royal Oak.

Nelessen, preparing to test his skills on the European boards, visited the Velodrome at Bloomer Park to gain small track racing experience. At 200 meters -- 1/8th of a mile -- the NAS-TRACK home is unique in the U.S. and the most similar to the indoor velodromes utilized in the six days of Germany and Belgium. Those tracks, usually indoors, are also steeply banked. The Velodrome at Bloomer Park is banked 44 degrees in the turns.

NAS-TRACK regular racers are experts at handling the banking and the intricacies of exchanging places with their partners every 40 seconds at speeds of 40 mph, even when there is a lot of "traffic" or teams on the track. They are an elite group of racers who specialize in Madison Racing, which is the hallmark of the NAS-TRACK League.

Although the NAS-TRACK season officially concluded Friday evening, NAS-TRACK in conjunction with the Velodrome at Bloomer Park, will be putting on a series of Fall Rider Races at 7 p.m. Wednesdays and 3 p.m. Saturdays for new and old riders alike - everyone NOW wants to learn how to ride a Madison. That series will continue into October